Don't Throw Away Old Pointe Shoes, Do One Of These 4 Things Instead

After hours of rehearsals, practice, shows (or if you're especially hard on them) and various other things that dancers do, the pair of pointe shoes that you've got are probably pretty worn out.

Pointe Shoe Fun Fact: A pair of pointe shoes last only about 4-12 hours and should be changed after 30-60 minutes.

And the thing is, they are usually (depending on the type of pair that you (as a ballerina) get can be pretty expensive. Chances are there's even a pile of them somewhere in your house (whether that's in the closet or a "special" pointe shoe basket).

But before you chuck them in the trash, consider maybe trying one (or all) of these next time you want to do something with your pointe shoes, other than just letting them sit.

1. Turn them into DIY gifts

Painting or decorating pointe shoes is so much fun and as a bonus, it makes a great DIY gift for both friends and family (especially those that like ballet or are ballet dancers themselves). Use floral sprays to lay down base colors. Then sew on sequins, ribbons, or pearls for decoration . or anything else you want.

2. Pointe shoe tree

if you have enough pointe shoes from all of your year of dance (or go to a dance studio), pointe shoe Christmas trees are super cool and creative. It can also be a great way to involve other students in the studio.

3. Shadow box

Are you an older ballerina? Do you still have your very first pair of pointe shoes? If you answered yes, a shadow box is a great way to preserve them. Placing shoes in these 3D frames display all their beauty — but with none of the post-rehearsal scents. Maybe you could even put them side by side with your very first pair of ballet shoes. Ambitious ballerinas (who own a lot of shoes) could make murals out of their shadow boxes by placing different pairs of shoes in various positions.

4. You can donate them

One World Running is one of the many that accept ballet shoes that are still in usable condition. The shoes are shipped to the headquarters in Colorado, or taken to a drop-off location. Company founder Michael Sandrock says that One World Running primarily donates athletic shoes to those in need around the world, and he typically sends the dance shoes they receive to Cuba, where they are used at dance schools.

The Coach That Killed My Passion

I lived for every practice and every game. I lived for the countless hours in the gym or my driveway perfecting every shot, every pass, and every move I could think of. Every night after dinner, I would go shoot and would not allow myself to go inside until I hit a hundred shots. I had a desire to play, to get better and to be the best basketball player I could possibly be.

I had many coaches between church leagues, rec leagues, personal coaches, basketball camps, middle school, and high school. Most of the coaches I had the opportunity to play for had a passion for the game like I did. They inspired me to never stop working. They would tell me I had a natural ability. I took pride in knowing that I worked hard and I took pride in the compliments that I got from my coaches and other parents. I always looked forward to the drills and, believe it or not, I even looked forward to the running. These coaches had a desire to teach, and I had a desire to learn through every good and bad thing that happened during many seasons. Thank you to the coaches that coached and supported me through the years.

Along with the good coaches, are a few bad coaches. These are the coaches that focused on favorites instead of the good of the entire team. I had coaches that no matter how hard I worked, it would never be good enough for them. I had coaches that would take insults too far on the court and in the classroom.

When a passion dies, it is quite possibly the most heartbreaking thing ever. A desire you once had to play every second of the day is gone, it turns into dreading every practice and game. It turns into leaving every game with earphones in so other parents don't talk to you about it. It meant dreading school the next day due to everyone talking about the previous game. My passion was destroyed when a coach looked at me in the eyes and said, "You could go to any other school and start varsity, but you just can't play for me."

Looking back now at the amount of tears shed after practices and games, I just want to say to this coach:

Making me feel bad about myself doesn't make me want to play and work hard for you, whether in the classroom or on the court. Telling me that, "Hard work always pays off," and not keeping that word doesn't make me want to work hard either. I spent every minute of the day focusing on making sure you didn't see the pain that I felt, and all of my energy was put towards that fake smile when I said I was OK with how you treated me. There are not words for the feeling I got when parents of teammates asked why I didn't play more or why I got pulled after one mistake, I simply didn't have an answer. The way you made me feel about myself and my ability to play ball made me hate myself, not only did you make me doubt my ability to play, but you also turned my teammates against me to where they didn't trust my abilities. I would not wish the pain you caused me on my greatest enemy. I pray that one day, eventually, when all of your players quit coming back that you realize that it isn't all about winning records. It's about the players.

You can have winning records without a good coach if you have a good team, but you won't have a team if you can't treat players with the respect they deserve.

ASU Baseball Is Already Knocking It Out Of The Park

Starting off the season 18-0? Not bad, considering the Sun Devils' haven't gone undefeated at the start of the NCAA baseball season since 2010 when they went 24-0, but honestly where did this come from? In the 2017-18 season, the Devils finished off with 23-32, sitting towards the bottom of the Pac-12. Now they're the top of the conference, past the usual Pac-12 baseball powerhouse, Oregon State.

On a team with only 27 on the roster, which makes it the smallest team in the Pac-12, you wouldn't really expect such an explosive start to the season. Take a look at the improvements made, though, and you'll see why.

For starters, catcher Sam Ferri is back healthy and ready for this season to start with both pitchers Alec Marsh and RJ Dabovich, who've both thrown some great games, but if we're being honest here, have been a little inconsistent with a few errors, but have been backed up by the offense to get the job done.

On offense, Hunter Bishop and Spencer Torkelson are the ones to watch out for. Torkelson was named Pac-12 freshman of the year last year, after setting the Pac-12 freshman record of home runs. Now he's back with some deadly at-bat presence, as you can always expect a few RBIs from him, and also doing a great job at infield (#TorkBomb). Bishop's following suit, with major at-bats against Notre Dame, Michigan State, and Xavier.

Safe to say being ranked #23 right now is huge for a program that struggled majorly in the past seasons and has had some great players transfer out recently. Despite being faced with huge adversity before the season, this lineup is really producing some good stuff this year, and by being undefeated through the first month of play really exemplified that.

Hats off to Head Coach Tracy Smith for helping these young men after having the program suffer for a while.